Kinfolk Load New Skills

Good heavens, seriously? Was this a task students could even handle?

Was this a joke? Don't let the easygoing, mild-mannered appearance of Lin Xiao's class teacher, Wu Hai, fool anyone. He showed none of the majesty of a High-level Demigod. The Main World's suppression was one factor, and his own restraint of his divine might was another. But if he entered an outer-domain plane and unleashed his divine power, simply standing there without doing anything could stir heaven and earth and alter the weather.

And beings like that were supposed to be slaughtered by students who had only just entered their First Year of High School? That was ridiculous. They would probably struggle even to get close.

Lin Xiao immediately passed over all tasks worth more than ninety points and set his sights on those below ninety. He had no intention of throwing his life away.

After all, when they descended into the outer domain later, both their true bodies and Kinfolk would descend. If they died there, they would truly be dead. Teachers could protect them under normal circumstances, but if he provoked a demigod, the teacher would not have time to save him before the demigod killed him.

With that in mind, Lin Xiao knew what he needed to choose.

First, the task had to be worth fewer than ninety points. Second, it was best if it was close to water so he could capitalize on his Kinfolk's advantages—rivers, lakes, coastlines, even the sea itself.

He first filtered out all tasks below eighty points, then filtered out those located deep within the continent. There were not many left after that.

He carefully browsed through them, selecting and comparing them over and over to see which was more suitable.

Fortunately, the Artifact Platform was still traveling toward the outer domain and would take more than a day to arrive. They had plenty of time to choose and prepare.

After nearly an hour of picking through the options and eliminating tasks that conflicted with those chosen by other students, he ultimately selected four that suited him well and accepted all of them in one go.

Only three tasks would grant rewards, but there was no limit on how many tasks one could undertake. Tasks beyond the first three simply offered no rewards, though there would still be spoils of war.

Lin Xiao planned to take them first, then choose the three easiest ones depending on the situation.

Of course, "easy" was relative. No task worth eighty points could truly be easy. Take the seemingly simplest of the four tasks—clearing out a Frogmen Tribe.

Task: Clear Out the Frogmen Tribe.

Task Description: A massive Frogmen Tribe Group lives in Blackwater Swamp. Eliminate 80% of the frogmen and destroy five Frogmen Tribe Stone Pillars.

Hint: Each frogmen tribe contains between five thousand and eight thousand members. Their base level is Level 0, and their highest level is Level 3.

Task Reward: 85 rating points, two Uncommon-quality Five-Star Cards, three random-quality Five-Star Cards, and assorted spoils of war.

Aside from that, the other three tasks were to destroy a Murloc tribe numbering around twenty thousand, destroy a Snakemen Tribe numbering around two thousand, and kill a powerful sea beast active in a certain stretch of Coral Reefs.

The four tasks were not greatly different in difficulty, and they were all close to one another in a shallow-sea region.

It was worth mentioning that the area also had one ninety-point task and two tasks worth more than ninety-five points. Lin Xiao merely glanced at them before giving up. They were impossible for him to do.

He first claimed the tasks through the Artifact Platform's Artifact Spirit. Luckily, no other students had selected the same tasks as him.

That made sense. Of the roughly five hundred students left in the entire grade, not many were capable of taking on tasks of this difficulty. Even fewer had Kinfolk suited for aquatic environments. There were not many suitable tasks in the plane, but there were not too few either. In addition, Lin Xiao had chosen quickly and made his decision early. At this point, few other students had settled on their choices.

After choosing the tasks, all that remained was to wait for the Artifact Platform to reach the outer-domain plane.

Unfortunately, they were still too weak to see outside through the Artifact Platform's thick divine radiance. They only knew that it was currently passing through the crystal wall between Subspace and the Chaotic Void Sea of the outer domain.

With time to spare, Lin Xiao spoke to his class teacher and temporarily returned to his Divine Domain.

This Artifact Platform could communicate with Divine Domains located in Subspace, allowing them to remain in contact with their Divine Domains even after entering the outer domain. Once they entered the examination plane, they could summon their Kinfolk from within their Divine Domains.

Upon returning to his Divine Domain, he found that the number of Kinfolk had increased somewhat since before. Standing within his Divine Kingdom, Lin Xiao looked down at the Naga and Murlocs living in his Divine Domain, his heart filled with delight.

There were now nearly six hundred Naga, including one hundred and twenty-four Fanatic Believers. They were all warriors who had lasted until the end of Endless Mode in the previous elimination round. By spending ten times the normal amount of Faith Points required for promotion, he had forcibly raised them by one level, turning them from basic Level 1 Naga into Level 2 Naga Warriors.

Inside the Divine Kingdom, Lin Xiao extended his palm. Two skill cards materialized out of thin air, hovering above his hand as they spun.

With a thought, he recalled that his Divine Domain still had two slots for fusing cards. He could use them to integrate these two cards.

But before doing so, he hesitated. Could he use the Creation Cube's ability to break down and enhance the cards, saving one card-fusion slot? He could break down the Momentum Strike skill card into nutrients and raise Basic Footwork to LV2.

Or he could break down Basic Footwork into nutrients and enhance Momentum Strike. He was not sure what it would become after enhancement. That skill was somewhat unusual; it could not be leveled up, had neither power nor skill cooldown, and he could not even tell its enhancement path. It was actually a passive skill as well.

But after considering the tasks he would face later, both skills were crucial. Losing either would significantly weaken his Kinfolk's combat strength.

This Final Exam was extremely important to Lin Xiao. The task reward cards were not the main point. The key was that this was the outer domain, and the spoils obtained here could be directly stored in his Divine Domain.

For Lin Xiao, who possessed the Creation Cube, this place was heaven.

Compared to the pitiful little rewards from regular classes and the end-of-month Placement Test, the outer domain was full of creatures from other planes.

Reward cards, all kinds of spoils of war—he could break down whatever he wanted and fuse whatever he wanted. Just thinking about it was exhilarating.

He could use this Final Exam to gather a massive amount of resources, then use the cards from task rewards to break down, fuse, and enhance several ultra-rare cards, greatly increasing his strength.

Therefore, although these two Common cards used up two card-fusion slots, the cost was still worthwhile compared to the gains he would reap in the future.

With a light wave of his hand, the two cards flew up, shattered into light, and scattered throughout the Divine Kingdom.

"Preload!"

The moment his words fell, nearly three thousand beams of white light, invisible to mortals, descended from the sky and enveloped every Kinfolk in the Divine Domain.

"Preloading complete. Please set the activation condition!"

Looking at the Divine Domain prompt interface before him, Lin Xiao said, "True Believers, after one standard prayer!"